Medicaid program on skids, Louisiana governor says

Arguing that "doing nothing is not an option," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has proposed restructuring Louisiana's healthcare program for the poor into a private insurance model that relies on managed-care principles to control costs and improve health outcomes. "Our healthcare system today is not working to help the very people it's designed to serve," Jindal said at a press briefing. Jindal said change is needed because the state's Medicaid progran is on an unsustainable financial path. Whereas the program consumed about 8.5% of the general fund budget in 2006, it is projected to take up 21% by 2011.

In his critics' eyes, with the national health overhaul pushed through by President Obama. Republican Presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has given up trying to distance himself...

Republican governors are pressing the Obama administration to make it easier for states to cut Medicaid enrollment, setting up a fight over one of states' costliest programs. On Friday, 33 Republican...

Louisiana must repay $239.5 million in Medicaid overpayments received for care of the uninsured under a federal ruling made public Wednesday. The state Department of Health and Hospitals lost its appeal of a...